From the New York Daily News’ Ralph Vacchiano :

In the moments after the Giants’ heartbreaking loss last Sunday in Dallas, it sure seemed like Mt. Coughlin was all ready to blow. All those turnovers, the wasted opportunities, and even the performance in spots by his defense had to be gnawing at him the entire flight home.

Yet on Monday morning there was no eruption. Terrible Tom had turned into Coughlin the Coddler. Instead of knocking his players when they were down, he patted them on the back.

“We have a lot of young guys in that locker room that need to have some kind of a pat on the rear end and (someone) saying, ‘Hey it’s a long season and there’s a lot of tough football games ahead,'” Coughlin told the surprised media that same morning. “We may be suffering today, but tomorrow you have to come back and be ready to go.”

With 5 penalties thus far in the first half against Denver this afternoon, I’m sure Corporal Coughlin has all sorts of pats on the rear end planned for his intermission pep talk.


(the Minnesota bench goes nuts when Interpol’s “Take Me On A Cruise” is played over the Metrodome tannoy)

Congratulations to Mike Tice on keeping his job for at least another week.

I’m tempted to call the San Diego Chargers the best 3-4 team in football, but I doubt that’s much consolation. The Bolts’ 4 losses have come by a combined total of 12 points, and the Patriots excepted, I can’t think of anyone else in the conference who’s had a tougher schedule.

Admittedly, I haven’t checked, either.